Abohar
Kanupriya tops in exam: Kanupriya has topped in the +1 exam of the PSEB securing 90.66 per cent in the Gopi Chand Arya Mahila College here, principal Neelam Arun Mittu announced on Thursday. Mamta Bansal got 89.55 per cent and Sarita was placed third with 86.22 per cent marks. Mittu said the college would offer to pay the admission fee for 10+1 and +2 classes in easy installments besides making provision of financial assistance for the poor but brilliant students.

Ritual held: The students, who had got first three positions in different classes in the annual exams during the past session, played as hosts in the “21 kundi havan yagya” organised in the LRS DAV Senior Secondary School here on Thursday to mark the beginning of the new academic session.

Man commits suicide: One Raja Ram allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the government school complex in village Bhagsar here on Wednesday. The chowkidar of the school found his body hanging from the tree. He is survived by three children. A case has been registered.

AmritsarSikh jatha for Pak: Sikh pilgrims will leave for Pakistan from the Attari joint checkpost on April 11 to celebrate Baisakhi at Gurdwara Panja Sahib. The pilgrimage is being organised by the Nankana Sahib Sikh Yatri Jatha. Swaran Singh Gill, president of the jatha, said on Thursday all those who had submitted their passports in this regard had been granted visas by the Pakistan government. The group would return on April 20.

Man found murdered: A notorious criminal, Jagjit Singh (22), was found murdered at Bharariwal village on Thursday. He had grievous sharpedged weapon injuries. A case had been registered at the Sadar police station. The family in a complaint lodged with the police alleged that he had gone to take some medicines on Wednesday but did not return. His body was found in a field.

Gang of auto-thieves busted: The Amritsar police here on Thursday claimed to have busted a gang of auto-lifters with the arrest of two persons. Ten motorcycles and two scooters were recovered from them. The accused have been identified as Vijay Kumar and Sarabjit Singh. During routine checking near Hall Gate, the police signalled two motorcycle-borne youths to stop. During questioning, they were unable to produce the registration certificate of vehicles, which was later found to be stolen.

Barnala
Writing competition: A student of class V of the Baba Gandha Singh Public School has brought laurels to the city by bagging the third prize in National Colour Writing Competition. Giving this information, principal of the school J.S. Chahal said that in the contest organised by Kala Bharati Bal Kalan institute, Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Ramanpreet Kaur of the school secured the third position.

One arrested: The local police arrested Bhupinder Singh, son of head constable Gurcharan Singh, for carrying a large quantity of intoxicants. A case has been registered under the NDPS Act.

Chandigarh
Transfers: The Punjab government on Thursday appointed Bhupinder Singh -1 as secretary, RTA, Ferozepur, while shifting Moneesh Kumar as
DTO, Bathinda.

Special campaign:
A special campaign has been launched to impart technical know-how to farmers of the state by the Punjab Agriculture Department through training camps, which will be held at the district level in the first phase. Stating this here on Thursday, agriculture minister Sucha Singh Langah said in the second phase the camps would be organised at block and village levels.

Health minister’s greetings
: Laxmi Kanta Chawla, health and family welfare minister, on Thursday extended greetings and best wishes to the Indians, particularly Punjabis, on the occasion of New Year, according to the traditional Hindu calendar.

FATEHGARH
SAHIBMeeting: To boost the social welfare activities in the district, the Hospital Welfare Society has decided to constitute a new charitable trust. Announcing this on Thursday, chairperson of the hospital welfare section Anju Singla said the trust would focus on providing medicines as well as financial aid to the poor in the hospitals. Presiding over a meeting of the society, the chairperson said the trust would also provide uniforms to the poor students.

FazilkaProtest march: Hundreds of activists of the RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, BJP, Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini, Sarhadi Lok Sewa Samiti and Dharm Jagran Manch staged a protest march in the market to protest against the alleged lynching of five RSS activists at the instigation of the CPI(M) in Kerala. The leaders spearheading the march demanded that strict action must be taken against the culprits involved in the incident.

Mansa
Cong MLA flays govt: District Congress president and Sardoolgarh MLA Ajitinder Singh Mohpar today criticised the Punjab government for not providing basic facilities to the people. He said that the Akali-BJP government had failed on every front. He alleged that indiscipline was rampant at the civil hospital in Sardoolgarh and suggested that the government should concentrate on welfare works.

PATIALASuicide: Inderpal Singh (25) committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at Khalsa Mohalla on Thursday. Sources revealed that Inderpal was in a state of depression for quite some time due to alleged differences with his wife whom he had married a couple of months back. The Kotwali police has registered a case under Sections 306, 506 of the IPC on a complaint lodged by the deceased’s sister Kirandeep Kaur who used to live with him.

Appointments: Dr Jagtar Singh, professor, department of library and information science, has been appointed dean, faculty of education and information science, Punjabi University. Punjabi University vice-chancellor has appointed Dr Manju
Verma, professor in the department of political science, as dean, faculty of social sciences for two years. Prof
S.M. Verma, professor of history, has been appointed head of the department of correspondence courses for three years.

PATHANKOT3 held for possessing charas: The Dhariwal police arrested three persons, Vinod
Yadav, Jarnail Singh and Sanjay Kumar here on Thursday and recovered 500 gm
charas, 311 intoxicating capsules and 750 litre of illicit liquor from them. A case under the NDPS Act and Excise Act has been registered. Meanwhile, one proclaimed offender Darshan Kumar, a resident of Nand
Pur, was also arrested. He was wanted in a case registered under the Excise Act.

ROPARKilled: Ajay Sharma, a resident of Sector 11,
Panchkula, died in a road accident in Ropar on Wednesday night. Ajay was traveling in his car from Amritsar to Panchkula via Ropar when a truck hit his care from behind. Ajay was rushed to the civil hospital but he died on the way. Truck driver fled the site of accident. The police has booked the driver on the complaint of Ajay’s brother who was following him in another car.

SANGRUR28 MBA students selected: Of the 168 students who appeared for a campus recruitment drive held at the local Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engineering and Technology (BGIET) on Wednesday, as many as 28 MBA, including 19 from the BGIET and the Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engineering and Management, have been selected by Nest Software Private Ltd, Amritsar. The company has offered an annual package of Rs 2.5 lakh to the selected ones, according to director of the BGIET Tanuja
Srivastava.

AMBALAProtest: The Ambala unit of Haryana Janhit Congress took out a protest march against the price hike and raised slogans against the UPA government. Senior leaders of the party, including Arjun Lal
Kalra, Puran Prakash Saini, Viresh Shandilaya, Suchha Singh Baknor, Tilak Raj
Taneja, Ashok Bartia, Naresh Chadda and Ramesh Singla were present on the occasion.

Jaundice outbreak: District Magistrate and deputy commissioner of Ambala Mohammad Shayin fearing the outbreak of jaundice in Ambala has prohibited the sale, storage and exposure of sweets, meat, cakes, biscuits, ice candies, kulfies and other food items. He has also prohibited the import of ice in the district. Bathing of persons and animals, washing of clothes, utensils on all wells and drinking sources has also been prohibited.

CHANDIGARHWheat arrival: The arrival of wheat in the mandis of the state has started and as much as 706 MTs of wheat has arrived so far. Out of this, 679 MTs of wheat has been procured by the procuring agencies. Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan on Thursday said the food and supplies department had purchased 375 MTs of wheat followed by HAFED (195
MTs) and the Haryana Warehousing Corporation (109 MTs). The payment to the farmers would be made within 48 to 72 hours.

JIND3 killed in mishap: Three youths were killed and three others were seriously injured when the car they were travelling in collided with a trailer truck near Julana on NH-71 on Wednesday. The victims were on their way to
Tohana. While Narender, Happy and Gulshan were killed on the spot, Sanjay
Saini, Karamvir and Satish got injured. They have been admitted to the
PGIMS, Rohtak.

REWARIEmployment scheme: Irrigation and PWD minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav formally launched the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the district by initiating spadework for a huge pond at Ghaseda village, 7 km from here, on Thursday. Addressing a meeting of elders and other panchayat functionaries of various villages, he said by providing guaranteed 100-day employment to poor people annually, the scheme would be instrumental in ameliorating the economic condition of rural unemployed persons.

ROHTAKMDU VC honours ex-PRO: The Maharshi Dayanand University Non-Teaching Employees Association (MDUNTEA) felicitated its former member and public relations official Sunit Mukherjee, presently lecturer in English at Government College, Dubaldhan (Jhajjar), for his outstanding services to the association as well as the university. The MDU vice-chancellor, Prof R.P. Hooda, presented a memento to Mukherjee on behalf of the MDUNTEA at a ceremony held on the university campus on Tuesday.

SONEPATStaff upset with pay panel: The district unit of the Sarv Karamchari Sangh on Thursday expressed resentment and dissatisfaction over the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission for neglecting the interests of the employees. Addressing a meeting of the unit activists from different departments here in the municipal park, office-bearers of the sangh criticised the commission for widening the gap between salaries of officers and employees, abolition of category D posts, reducing the number of holidays and making an attempt to abolish benefits of bonus.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPURAnnual credit plan: Deputy commissioner Devesh Kumar has said Rs 210.6 crore district credit plan has been finalised by the UCO Bank, for the current financial year. Releasing the final report in the meeting of the district review committee here, Deputy commissioner said the present plan is 15.1 per cent more than that of last year and has an increase of Rs 27
crore. Kumar said Rs 183.03 crore has been allocated for the priority sector, while Rs 27 crore has been kept for the primary sector.

Chamba
Police remand: Ved Vyas on Wednesday was remanded in police custody for four days by a local court in connection with the murder of his 82-year-old father Sachetu Ram. The incident had occurred in Khadkati village on Tuesday. The court directed the police to produce the accused in the court on Saturday.

DHARAMSALATwo arrested: The Kangra police has arrested Ravinder Kumar, a resident of Bhati Sakot, for carrying 6,000 ml of illicit liquor. In another case, Netu, a resident of Rajgir in Indora, has been caught with 5,000 ml illicit liquor. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against the accused.

One held: The Indora police has arrested Tarsem Pal, a resident of Ferozpur district in Punjab, on charges of killing a cycle rider,
Banti, a resident of Padtan ki kodhi in an accident. Pal was driving the truck that hit his bicycle.

Ex-servicemen rally: The district sanik welfare board is organising an ex-servicemen rally at Rajinder stadium in Yol on April 6. The board officials in a press note issued here today said the ex-servicemen from the entire area and widows of martyrs have been asked to participate in the rally that would be held to redress their grievances.

KULLUBlood donation: A blood donation and awareness camp was organised by the Saloon Association,
Kullu, in association with an NGO, the Green Foundation for Drug Reforms and Environment Protection in Himalayas here on Thursday. As many as 12 units of blood were donated to the Blood Bank here. Dr
Pazor, head of the blood transfusion centre here, arranged the camp in the district courts complex.

NURPURRestore annulled posts: HP state general secretary Ajay Mahajan and state NSUI general secretary Tipu Khan in a joint statement here on Thursday urged the Chief Minister to restore annulled posts of teaching and non-teaching staff of the local Arya Government College, which had been approved by the previous Virbhadra Singh government before the coming academic session. They said the new government instead of de-notifying the notification issued in August last year should fill these posts keeping in view the larger interest of the people of lower Kangra district.

SHIMLAAppointed: State youth Congress president Sukhwinder Singh has approved the list of officer-bearers of the Chamba district unit of the youth Congress as proposed by the district president Sheevank Sharma. Vice-presidents-Vijay Kumar, Sanjay Suri, Mohinder Singh, Pwan Thakur, Vivek Kaundal, Virnder Kumar and Pritam Singh; general secretaries-Satish Kumar, Sanjay, Latif Mohammed and Umesh Kumar. Prret Pal Chona, Rajeev Gupta, Neeraj Sharma and Amit Sood, Shankar; secretaries -Jaggu Ram Amrish Suri and Deepak Mahajan. Liyakat Ali has been appointed as the block presidents of Chamba, Narender Kumar of Bhatiyat, Vijay Kumar of Banikhet, Sanjay Kumar of Bharmour and Khem Raj of Rajnagar. Naveen Chona has been appointed as the president of Chamba(city) units.

JAMMU
& KASHMIR

JAMMU
ST status for Paharis: The Pahari-speaking people in the state may soon be accorded Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. This was disclosed by Union minister of state for home, Sriprakash
Jaiswal, to mediapersons during his two-day visit to the state. Assuring a delegation of the Pahari board led by its vice-chairman, Shabir Khan, Jaiswal said the Centre was aware of the long-pending demands of the people.

1 held for murder: The Jammu police on Thursday claimed to have solved the double murder case that took place in Shimla on the intervening night of March 28 and 29, 2008. Police sources said they had arrested Deepak
Dogra, alias Minta Langra, the main accused in the murder of Ashwani Kumar, alias
Ashu, and Rajeev Kumar, alias Raju, who were wanted criminals in the Bakra murder case.

Sikhs’ protest: The Sikh community on Thursday staged a protest demonstration against the proposed auction of an armour at London’s renowned Sotheby’s. The proposed auction of the armour has triggered widespread protests across the country as the Sikh community claims that it belonged to Guru Gobind Singh.

Chhari Mubarak yatra: Minister for higher education Gulchain Singh Charak on Thursday said the traditional Chhari Mubarak Chatter Choudhas would be taken out from Shri Ranbieshwar Temple at
Shalamar, Jammu and would proceed to Shri Raghunath temple and later to historical temples of Purmandal and Utterbani on April 5. He said the yatra would pass through Tawi bridge, Bikram
Chowk, Jammu University, Narwal bypass, Kaluchak, Ratnochak, Birpur, Purmandal and
Uttervani.

SRINAGARBan to be lifted: The authorities have decided to lift a week-long ban imposed on quarrying sites where blasting is not carried out to effect the excavation of stones. The ban was imposed, following the death of a labourer, and serious injuries to two others due to a blast at the excavation site at Athwajan near here last week. According to the director of the concerned Geology and Mining Department, Parvez Malik, the ban would be fully lifted after these sites were declared safe.